tbonequeen13 birth story
Dec 19, 2016 15:40:44 GMT -5
Post by tbonequeen13 on Dec 19, 2016 15:40:44 GMT -5
It's almost a week later, but I think the details are still fresh enough to be accurate (lol). It's long, sorry.
I knew when I got pregnant that I wouldn't be allowed to go to the full 40 weeks due to being Type II. I had to be induced with DD1 for the same reason, and everything went great, so I wasn't too worried about another induction (in fact, I knew it would make planning what to do with DD1 while we were in the hospital easier).
As a refresher, at 36 weeks, DD2 decided she no longer cared to be head down, and she was completely sideways during the ultrasound. Nothing had changed by 37 weeks, but at 38 weeks she was finally head down again. At that time, they also diagnosed me with Polyhydramnios, which means I had too much amniotic fluid and that's why DD2 wasn't in a stable lie. I begged them to induce me at 38 weeks because I feared she'd flip again, but they told me they wouldn't do it before 39 weeks since she was passing all the NSTs and BPPs with flying colors. We set induction for 12/13, which would be 39 weeks 2 days. I hoped I wouldn't make it that far, but since DD2 didn't seem to be able to drop with all the fluid, I figured she'd stay put until evicted.
I had plenty of contractions between 38 and 39 weeks but just about the time they'd establish a pattern, they'd fizzle out. The weekend came and went and Monday I spent the day at home with DD1 having one last day with just her and me. We took her to my Mom's house that evening so she could spend the night and go to school the next day.
We got to the hospital at 5am on 12/13. This was not the same hospital I delivered DD1 at, and I was pleasantly surprised how nice everything was. They got me hooked up to the monitors, and based on where they found the heartbeat, it appeared DD2 was sideways once again (I more or less already expected that- her kicks were coming from the top and right, not the center anymore). Amazingly, they got the IV started with only 2 attempts (it usually take 4-5) and about they time they went to find my OB to see about an ultrasound, the nurse had to move the heart rate monitor quite a bit, more to where it was when she was head down. My OB tracked down the ultrasound machine and sure enough, DD2 was head down although quite high. They decided to go ahead and break my water while 2 nurses pushed down on DD2 to help her move down and to keep the cord from prolapsing. TMI Warning- the OB had her whole freaking hand inside me for this procedure and it hurt like a SOB. The amount of amniotic fluid that came out was astonishing, even to the nurses. They had pads and towels on the bed and it was still leaking onto the floor...I stood up afterwards and my stomach was probably 40% smaller than it had been 10 mins ago- it was INSANE!
After breaking my waters, the contractions started coming every 2-3 mins and were fairly strong from the get-go. They decided to hold off on the pitocin and see how my body did on it's own. DD2 had a few decals with me on my back at a comfortable incline, so they had me flip to my left side. That instantly made things more painful, but I was able to manage things with breathing and once they had me flip to my right side, it got a little better. I labored for an hr or so and went from 3-4cm to 6cm. Things were getting more painful and intense, but I was still managing ok on my own. After another hr, I was still at 6cm and starting to feel like I wanted the epidural after all (I went in undecided- I had one with DD1 and it slowed pushing way down and since I wasn't on pit, I wanted to see if I could handle things without one). I am SO glad I decided to call it when I did because in the 30 mins it took to get enough fluid and get the Anesthesiologist in there, I was barley holding on. It took 3 tries to get the epidural placed, which wasn't bad in itself, but the 6-7 lidocaine shots they used hurt like hell and the contractions were still every 2 mins which made holding still hard.
Once the epidural was placed, I settled in for a nap. This was about 12:15. They decided to give me just a little bit of pitocin because DD2 was still having some decels and they wanted to see if they could speed things along while she was still handling it ok. From 12:45-1:10 I went from 6cm to completely dilated with just a small lip. They decided to let me be until 1:30 and then we'd do some practice pushing and see how things went. They commented how round DD2's head still was and how it hadn't molded at all and they wouldn't be surprised if I needed to labor down a bit.
About 1:25, I started feeling the contractions again on my left side. I told the nurse, and pushed the button for a boost of meds, but it didn't help. By the time I started pushing about 1:35, it was like the epidural wasn't even there. It hurt like a b**ch. I've read where other women found relief in pushing, but that was definitely NOT the case for me...it felt like I was being split in half. After the first set of pushes, the OB said she didn't think I was making much progress but we'd try one more set. After the 2nd set, she said DD2 was OP and having decals and they were afraid the cord was around her neck- they were going to let me push a little longer, but if I didn't get her out they wanted to use a vacuum. I don't know if that was actually true or if she was trying to motivate me, but it definitely did- as did the pain. I pushed for 2 hrs with DD1 and I knew there was NO WAY I could handle anything near that with no pain meds. Every time the OB would stop to suit up, I would beg her to let me push again and they'd make me wait for the contraction to build up which was hell. It seemed like it took forever, but in actuality it was only about 20 mins.
At 1:54pm, Har.per Ke.ith was born with her perfectly round, non molded head. I had a 1st degree tear that took 4 stitches (and I felt every single one of them!!) and another small tear that they opted not to stitch. The cord was not around her neck but was too short for them to put me on my stomach until DH cut it. They let me hold her for a few mins and then took her to check her out. She really didn't cry too much- enough to satisfy the nurses, but then she heard DH talking to her and calmed right down. The nurses and OB kept talking about how big she was, but she looked tiny to me. She was 8lbs 13oz and 20 3/4" long. (12 oz lighter than DD1, 1/4" shorter). They handed her to me and I noticed she has the same stork bite birth mark I have (it's like a red "v" on my forehead). She has the same dark hair as DH and DD1 (I'm blonde) and she had more hair than I thought she would (I didn't have near the heartburn with her I had with DD1).
We stayed in the hospital for just about 48 hrs. At first, DD2 was a very lazy eater- she would only take about 15ml at a time and only every 3-4 hrs. They were checking her blood sugars before each feeding for the first 12 hrs and she passed with flying colors. By the 2nd day, they said she was borderline jaundice and they wanted us to up her feedings. They let us go home on Thurs and didn't mention the jaundice again, but her eyes had a definite yellow tint. When we got to the pedi appt Fri, they did the light test for her jaundice and ended up doing bloodwork to send to the local Children's Hospital. Her levels were 13.3 and she had lost enough weight that she was 8lbs 5 oz so they told us to feed her every 3 hrs and we check back with them on Wed. She's gotten to be a much better eater- she's taking about 2oz every 3 hrs during the day but at night she sleeps for 4-5 hrs between feedings which is great since DH goes back to work tomorrow and I'll be the one getting up with her for night feedings. She is such a chill baby- she hardly ever cries (she prefers to yell if she wants something and we're not fast enough) and she loves to snuggle and just check out her surroundings.
DD1 is smitten with her baby sister and loves to help us. She loves to hold her, feed her, and bring us the things we need for diaper changes. At the hospital, she would barely let anyone hold her sister before she was begging for another turn. She's handled things SO MUCH BETTER than I expected, and although I know we'll still have challenging days, I feel much better about doing this myself for the next 7 weeks since DH only had enough time for 1 week off.
And now, if I can get this thing to work, a picture as a reward for reading my novel, lol.
I knew when I got pregnant that I wouldn't be allowed to go to the full 40 weeks due to being Type II. I had to be induced with DD1 for the same reason, and everything went great, so I wasn't too worried about another induction (in fact, I knew it would make planning what to do with DD1 while we were in the hospital easier).
As a refresher, at 36 weeks, DD2 decided she no longer cared to be head down, and she was completely sideways during the ultrasound. Nothing had changed by 37 weeks, but at 38 weeks she was finally head down again. At that time, they also diagnosed me with Polyhydramnios, which means I had too much amniotic fluid and that's why DD2 wasn't in a stable lie. I begged them to induce me at 38 weeks because I feared she'd flip again, but they told me they wouldn't do it before 39 weeks since she was passing all the NSTs and BPPs with flying colors. We set induction for 12/13, which would be 39 weeks 2 days. I hoped I wouldn't make it that far, but since DD2 didn't seem to be able to drop with all the fluid, I figured she'd stay put until evicted.
I had plenty of contractions between 38 and 39 weeks but just about the time they'd establish a pattern, they'd fizzle out. The weekend came and went and Monday I spent the day at home with DD1 having one last day with just her and me. We took her to my Mom's house that evening so she could spend the night and go to school the next day.
We got to the hospital at 5am on 12/13. This was not the same hospital I delivered DD1 at, and I was pleasantly surprised how nice everything was. They got me hooked up to the monitors, and based on where they found the heartbeat, it appeared DD2 was sideways once again (I more or less already expected that- her kicks were coming from the top and right, not the center anymore). Amazingly, they got the IV started with only 2 attempts (it usually take 4-5) and about they time they went to find my OB to see about an ultrasound, the nurse had to move the heart rate monitor quite a bit, more to where it was when she was head down. My OB tracked down the ultrasound machine and sure enough, DD2 was head down although quite high. They decided to go ahead and break my water while 2 nurses pushed down on DD2 to help her move down and to keep the cord from prolapsing. TMI Warning- the OB had her whole freaking hand inside me for this procedure and it hurt like a SOB. The amount of amniotic fluid that came out was astonishing, even to the nurses. They had pads and towels on the bed and it was still leaking onto the floor...I stood up afterwards and my stomach was probably 40% smaller than it had been 10 mins ago- it was INSANE!
After breaking my waters, the contractions started coming every 2-3 mins and were fairly strong from the get-go. They decided to hold off on the pitocin and see how my body did on it's own. DD2 had a few decals with me on my back at a comfortable incline, so they had me flip to my left side. That instantly made things more painful, but I was able to manage things with breathing and once they had me flip to my right side, it got a little better. I labored for an hr or so and went from 3-4cm to 6cm. Things were getting more painful and intense, but I was still managing ok on my own. After another hr, I was still at 6cm and starting to feel like I wanted the epidural after all (I went in undecided- I had one with DD1 and it slowed pushing way down and since I wasn't on pit, I wanted to see if I could handle things without one). I am SO glad I decided to call it when I did because in the 30 mins it took to get enough fluid and get the Anesthesiologist in there, I was barley holding on. It took 3 tries to get the epidural placed, which wasn't bad in itself, but the 6-7 lidocaine shots they used hurt like hell and the contractions were still every 2 mins which made holding still hard.
Once the epidural was placed, I settled in for a nap. This was about 12:15. They decided to give me just a little bit of pitocin because DD2 was still having some decels and they wanted to see if they could speed things along while she was still handling it ok. From 12:45-1:10 I went from 6cm to completely dilated with just a small lip. They decided to let me be until 1:30 and then we'd do some practice pushing and see how things went. They commented how round DD2's head still was and how it hadn't molded at all and they wouldn't be surprised if I needed to labor down a bit.
About 1:25, I started feeling the contractions again on my left side. I told the nurse, and pushed the button for a boost of meds, but it didn't help. By the time I started pushing about 1:35, it was like the epidural wasn't even there. It hurt like a b**ch. I've read where other women found relief in pushing, but that was definitely NOT the case for me...it felt like I was being split in half. After the first set of pushes, the OB said she didn't think I was making much progress but we'd try one more set. After the 2nd set, she said DD2 was OP and having decals and they were afraid the cord was around her neck- they were going to let me push a little longer, but if I didn't get her out they wanted to use a vacuum. I don't know if that was actually true or if she was trying to motivate me, but it definitely did- as did the pain. I pushed for 2 hrs with DD1 and I knew there was NO WAY I could handle anything near that with no pain meds. Every time the OB would stop to suit up, I would beg her to let me push again and they'd make me wait for the contraction to build up which was hell. It seemed like it took forever, but in actuality it was only about 20 mins.
At 1:54pm, Har.per Ke.ith was born with her perfectly round, non molded head. I had a 1st degree tear that took 4 stitches (and I felt every single one of them!!) and another small tear that they opted not to stitch. The cord was not around her neck but was too short for them to put me on my stomach until DH cut it. They let me hold her for a few mins and then took her to check her out. She really didn't cry too much- enough to satisfy the nurses, but then she heard DH talking to her and calmed right down. The nurses and OB kept talking about how big she was, but she looked tiny to me. She was 8lbs 13oz and 20 3/4" long. (12 oz lighter than DD1, 1/4" shorter). They handed her to me and I noticed she has the same stork bite birth mark I have (it's like a red "v" on my forehead). She has the same dark hair as DH and DD1 (I'm blonde) and she had more hair than I thought she would (I didn't have near the heartburn with her I had with DD1).
We stayed in the hospital for just about 48 hrs. At first, DD2 was a very lazy eater- she would only take about 15ml at a time and only every 3-4 hrs. They were checking her blood sugars before each feeding for the first 12 hrs and she passed with flying colors. By the 2nd day, they said she was borderline jaundice and they wanted us to up her feedings. They let us go home on Thurs and didn't mention the jaundice again, but her eyes had a definite yellow tint. When we got to the pedi appt Fri, they did the light test for her jaundice and ended up doing bloodwork to send to the local Children's Hospital. Her levels were 13.3 and she had lost enough weight that she was 8lbs 5 oz so they told us to feed her every 3 hrs and we check back with them on Wed. She's gotten to be a much better eater- she's taking about 2oz every 3 hrs during the day but at night she sleeps for 4-5 hrs between feedings which is great since DH goes back to work tomorrow and I'll be the one getting up with her for night feedings. She is such a chill baby- she hardly ever cries (she prefers to yell if she wants something and we're not fast enough) and she loves to snuggle and just check out her surroundings.
DD1 is smitten with her baby sister and loves to help us. She loves to hold her, feed her, and bring us the things we need for diaper changes. At the hospital, she would barely let anyone hold her sister before she was begging for another turn. She's handled things SO MUCH BETTER than I expected, and although I know we'll still have challenging days, I feel much better about doing this myself for the next 7 weeks since DH only had enough time for 1 week off.
And now, if I can get this thing to work, a picture as a reward for reading my novel, lol.
